Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age - Softcover

Kovarik, Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1441114602 ISBN 13: 9781441114600

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011

Synopsis

The rise of the Information Age, the fall of the traditional media, and the bewildering explosion of personal information services are all connected to the historical chain of communications' revolutions. We need to understand these revolutions because they influence our present and future as much as any other trend in history. And we need to understand them not simply on a national basis - an unstable foundation for history in any event - but rather as part of the emergent global communications network.
Unlike most of the current texts in the field, Revolutions in Communication is an up-to-date resource, expanding upon contemporary scholarship. It provides students and teachers with detailed sidebars about key figures, technical innovations, global trends, and social movements, as well as supplemental reading materials, and a fully supportive companion website. Revolutions in Communication is an authoritative introduction to the history of all branches of media.

About this title

About the Author:

Bill Kovarik, Ph.D. is a Professor of Communication at Radford University, a publicly supported graduate level school located near (and once part of) Virginia Tech. He earned his B.S. in Journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1974, his M.A. in Communications at the University of South Caroline in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Public Communications at the University of Maryland in 1993. His previous books include Mass Media and Environmental Conflict (Sage, 1997) and Web Design for the Mass Media (Allyn Bacon, 2001).

Review:

Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age offers a new approach to media history, presenting an encyclopedic look at the way technological change has linked social and ideological communities. Based on exhaustive scholarship, it narrates the story of revolutions in printing, electronic communication and digital information, while drawing parallels between the past and present. A stunning work of research, it conveys intellectual excitement and stimulates creative thinking about the social construction of communication.

—Maurine H. Beasley, Professor Emerita of Journalism, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland College Park

I could almost imagine myself standing next to William Caxton as the newly inked printed pages of the Canterbury Tales began to accumulate on the table next to his printing machine. Bill Kovarik's latest work on the history of the media has brought together under one academic roof the role of technology and how it has shaped our way of life and our world. He deseves full credit for the way his words take on both colour and a sense of adventure. This work belongs on the book shelves of any university or college program in which the study of technology and its companion media has a central focus. Let it be said that Kovarik's readers will never suffer a dull moment in this beautifully tailored work as he walks through some of the most important history of the age from the Ipad to the cell phone to the Internet.

— David R. Spencer, Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies First Faculty Alumni Rogers Chair 2003-2005

Kovarik has the most complete understanding of media technology among journalism historians working today. It is a very interesting and useful work.

— Mark Neuzil, Professor, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of St. Thomas

As an historian of both technology and the media, Bill Kovarik has made a unique contribution to our understanding of communication history. He explains how the print, visual, electronic, and digital technological revolutions have shaped communication. Equally important, he shows that that new technologies have been invented to overcome the limitations of existing media. This is fascinating reading, both for communication scholars and historians.

—James E. Grunig, Professor Emeritus, Department of Communication, University of Maryland

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1441114602
• ISBN 13: 9781441114600
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384